The Chair wants to thank the hon. member for Kootenay--Columbia for his very able argument on this point. I cannot tell him how pleased I am to have my own decision cited as an authority for something in the House. Having said that, I am afraid I must disagree with the premise of his question.
In my view Bill S-7 would not impose taxes. Rather, it would give to the CRTC, a quasi-judicial body, the power to make regulations enabling the commission to direct that the costs of a party appearing before the commission be paid by another party according to a scale of costs set out by the commission in its regulations similar to that which any court in this country can do upon the adjudication of a case before it.
As explained in the bill's summary, costs are the allowed expenses that a party incurs in respect of a proceeding. The taxation of costs means the review of the costs by an officer of the Commission with a view to determining that they are authorized and reasonable.
The subject matter of Bill S-7 is not the imposition of any tax although the word taxation is used in the bill. Accordingly I cannot find the hon. member's point of order to be well taken. In my view Bill S-7, at least on this ground, is properly before the House.